Saturday, November 4, 2006

"The perception, particularly among students of color, is that Mount Mary [College] is a lily-white school in the suburbs," said Choya Wilson, an administrator who has recruited for the college.

It is in the suburbs. The new outreach program has several elements.

Most radical, however, is that the courses take place on a separate campus, on the second floor of the YWCA in the 1900 block of N. King Drive, north of downtown.

Could this be geographical stereotyping?

Nakaya Spicer, a midtown program participant who graduated from Messmer High School, lives on N. 103rd St., which is much closer to Mount Mary's main campus. To get to the satellite campus, she must leave her house at 7:50 a.m.

"The commute has been hard," she said.

She'Leah Fox of Shorewood isn't thrilled about the location, either. She is among nine participants who live on the main campus in a residence hall. Every morning, they pile into a bus that takes them to class.

All this busing to the second location seems strange, given that Mount Mary's main campus is on two bus lines that go through the inner city. But oh for college days, when 7:50 a.m. seemed early.